


Sacrifice

by Agf



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 21:32:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14723963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agf/pseuds/Agf
Summary: The soul holds a special place among the infinity stones, you might say it has a certain… wisdom.The soul stone does not belong to Thanos, not really. You see, it could tell that his sacrifice, the soul he gave over, was not given for the right kind of ambition, nor with the right kind of love. That gives the Avengers an opportunity.





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> (Please note this is a 'chose not to archive warnings' not a 'no warnings apply' story)

Thanos may have loved Gamora, but he loved her not as a father, but in the same way the Collector loved his things. It was the same folly the Red Skull had seen many times before in other seekers of the stone. For the most part, the stone simply did not appear after they had made their sacrifices. Oftentimes, those seekers would follow their sacrifice over the edge of the cliff as well.

If the stone did appear, it burned its seeker as soon as they tried to harness its power. Red Skull had watched it the first couple of times. He saw tendrils of amber light spreading from the stone through hidden veins, burrowing deep under the skin and illuminating the horrified expressions on the seekers’ faces for just a moment. Just a few seconds, before they turned to ash.

He could tell with simply a look between the mad Titan and his stolen daughter that she would not serve as an adequate sacrifice. The same force which kept him here as the guardian of the stone also stopped his lips, and Red Skull couldn’t have warned Thanos, even if he had desired to.

But the stone appeared nonetheless. Red Skull watched as the Titan bent to retrieve it and waited for the light to spread through him, but the stone joined its partners on his golden glove and seemed to stick there. The thrum of power was audible, and Red Skull watched with a neutral expression as Thanos stretched his fingers. It was a curious metal, clearly created for this very purpose. Perhaps it had worked.

In the silence after Thanos’ departure, Red Skull waited for his tenure as guardian to end. But the curse was not lifted. It only reinforced his certainty that he had been correct.

Thanos may have loved Gamora, but it wasn’t the right kind of love. It wasn’t the right kind of sacrifice. The stone had its own wisdom, and so it kept him here, to wait for its return.

Red Skull settled down against a crevice and closed his eyes. He waited.

**

The remaining Avengers spent the weeks after Thanos’ victory recuperating in Wakanda.

It was only a matter of time until the Titan returned, Thor was certain of that. “It is not enough for Thanos to complete his mission and disappear. He will return to prove the merit of his actions, to see how the planets flourish thanks to his mercy.”

“Some mercy,” Natasha muttered. None of them had any other retort.

“So he’s coming back?” Rocket repeated, “Good. I wanna try out some of the tech they got lying around here. We fire it enough times at his face and maybe we’ll get to see it explode.”

“That won’t work, not while he has the infinity stones. He could just alter our reality and make them glorified water pistols,” Shuri pointed out. There was an edge under her voice, an anger at all of her hardest work being reduced so easily to an annoyance in the face of Thanos’ power.

“In which case, we’re screwed,” Bruce said. “We can’t get any weapon that could actually hit him, or one that’ll let Thor get close enough, and without a weapon like that, we can’t get the gauntlet off him at all. That’s where we’re at?”

Thor growled, but Shuri lifted a shoulder apologetically. “I was only able to study the makeup of the mind stone. I could craft something able to dodge around that stone’s mechanics, maybe, but the others are complete unknowns. Besides, with the reality stone Thanos could make everything we do here impossible.”

“And with the time stone, he could undo any progress we make,” Steve interrupted. The loose group of avengers turned at the sound of his voice, and Rhodey stood up to greet him.

“Captain. Any luck contacting anyone?”

 Steve shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry Rhodey. Wherever Tony is, even FRIDAY can’t find him.”

There was the unspoken possibility hanging in the air over all of them – that Tony might not actually be anywhere. That he might be a pile of dust in the wind, like half of the universe. They had lost so many that the thought of that only caused a dull ache in the centre of Steve’s chest. He was almost numb to the idea of loss.

“Tell me the names of the other stones,” Shuri requested. She could remember them easily, of course, but when they were speaking there was not the overhanging weight of their thoughts in the room.

Natasha was the one to speak. “The reality stone, the mind stone, time, power, space and soul.”

“They aren’t imaginatively named,” Rocket scoffed.

“The stones are merely ingredients to Thanos now,” Thor pointed out, nodding at Steve. The captain looked tired, leaning slumped against the back of Natasha’s chair. Bruce was sat by her feet.

The sight of his team looking so bedraggled only inspired another surge of anger in the centre of Thor’s chest.

“He has all of the stones, so their power conjoins to create the abilities he displayed,” Thor waved a hand at the window, outside of which the ruined grasslands remained scorched and dirty from the battle.

“And you guys are sure there’s nothing in space that can help us out?” Bruce prompted, lifting his head to look between Thor and Rocket. “Seems a bit unfair that its only bad guys who drop down. At least, you know, for the most part.”

“Look little guy, we didn’t have to come at all,” Rocket said, baring his teeth. His anger dissipated quickly though. It would likely have made no difference if they were on earth or not.

Steve ran a hand through his dirty hair. They needed a plan, something to work towards. “There might have been someone out there. Might still be, if the snap didn’t end them too. But I’m not happy just waiting around to see if someone shows up to help us. Lets- yes, Shuri?”

Shuri lowered her hand. “The soul stone. What do we know about it? The time stone controls time, reality stone does reality etc… The soul stone, what, controls our souls?”

“Thor?” Steve asked. Thor raised his palms and shrugged, nonplussed.

“Why do you ask?” Natasha said.  She could recognise the beginnings of a science ramble in Shuri’s voice, had heard it often enough from Stark or Bruce.

“Which stone is it which gave Thanos the power to kill half the universe? Yes, it was all of them working together, but I think we misunderstand it when we think that they are all of equal weight.”

“Go on,” Steve said.

“What if Thanos didn’t just kill everybody – what if it was a little more complex than that? He has a stone which controls their souls, and so when he snaps his fingers…”

Bruce sat upright. “You think he took their souls.”

“I think there would not be a need for a body if there was no soul. He didn’t spin them back in time to when they were babies, or turn them into bubbles or trees. They filtered away.”

“What do any of these _maybes_ actually mean for us?” Rocket griped.

“They mean, Rabbit, that our friends may not be gone for good,” Thor said. “They may yet live, inside the soul stone.”

“Inside the soul stone,” Shuri nodded. She stood up, and began hunting around for a working tablet, something to begin making notes on. “That was why he needed it. That was why the deaths _after_ he found it were different to the ones before.”

Thor winced, his lips tightening, but nodded. “I believe you may be right.”

“But we still have no way of getting control of any of the stones,” Rhodey pointed out. He didn’t want to let himself feel optimistic, it would hurt too much to lose that hope again. Bruce’s shoulders slumped forwards, and he nodded. Thor turned back to the window.

“Shuri, follow your thought to the end,” Steve said encouragingly. The young girl still looked distracted, and there was the smallest hint of a smile at the very edge of her mouth.

“I don’t think we should focus yet on how to get it off of him,” she said, “I think we should find out how he found it in the first place.”

**

Red Skull did not keep track of the days he spent on Vormir. After Thanos came for the stone, there was even less reason to try. Nobody would be coming to search for the soul stone when it clearly sat amongst the gold metal of the gauntlet.

And yet, he awakened one day to a visitor. A short woman, her head tilted to one side as she surveyed him. Her blonde hair caught and danced in the wind. Something in the air whispered to him, and the Red Skull listened.

“I am afraid the stone you seek is far from here,” Red Skull said, rising to his feet. The woman did not look intimidated, or even disappointed. “Carol Danvers, you are far from home.”

“I know that,” she said. She still did not look afraid. “It’s not the stone I want, it’s information from you.”

“You assume I would be able to give you information.”

“Thanos came here,” Carol said, pacing the small space she stood in, hopping easily over the rough edges of rock. “He came, and you gave him the stone, I know that much already. What I want to know is… why?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why Thanos? Others must have searched for the soul stone before now. What made him succeed, where they had failed?”

“There is a test,” Red Skull explained. Carol stopped pacing and lifted her eyebrows.

“Wow. You must have set that bar pretty low, if he was the one who passed it.”

“I did not say that he passed,” Red Skull said, his hackles rising. “You came here for information, and yet you do not listen.”

“I am listening, you’re not explaining it very well. Tell me, why do you say Thanos didn’t pass?”

“Because I am still here,” Red Skull said, holding out his arms. “I am cursed to remain here, as the protector of the stone. It took me at the point of my death and brought me here to serve this task. And here I still am.”

“What exactly did the test for the stone entail?”

“To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice. In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul.”

Carol finally fell completely still, and then nodded slowly. “He didn’t lose that which he loved.”

“He thinks that he did,” Red Skull replied, which was all he was able to say before his lips closed once again, and he was silenced.

“Do you have to be there, to witness the test?” Carol asked. Red Skull shook his head. “Thank god. Full offence, I’m so glad I don’t have to take you to earth with me.”

Red Skull remained silent.

“Thanks for your help. I guess you’ll be one of the first to know if we succeed.” Carol lifted a hand to wave at him, and then disappeared once again over the outcropping of rock. Red Skull could hear the distant whine of an engine as her ship powered up, and then he was left alone. He sat down by the rock once again, and waited.

**

When Nebula got Tony back to earth, she landed her ship in Nebraska and SHIELD had to come and collect them. Tony spent half a day locked away with Pepper, and she held him while he shook and they both cried.

Pepper had had nightmares like this before too. It wasn’t just Tony who dreamt of the end of the world. Pepper knew her own superpowers were more of the emotional or business-y CEO kind, but she still felt so helpless every time Tony shot off in his suit, leaving her behind. She hated it. She loved him so much she knew he’d never stop. Even loved him for that same pig-headedness.

An Agent Ross came to collect Tony and take him to Wakanda. Pepper chose to stay behind. Not because she wanted to let Tony out of sight at all, but because there was chaos to be dealt with at home. Her superpowers were not the alien-killing kind, but Pepper knew she could help more from the ground. She pulled Agent Ross to one side before he got on the plane and held him by his tie.

“You ring me when you reach Wakanda. Tony will forget. You promise me.”

Agent Ross nodded. “I’ll do that Miss Potts.”

It felt so selfish to say it, when first reports indicated that half of the world was gone, and Tony might be a superhero but he was still just one man – one who’d already confessed that he was willing to die on Titan to keep Thanos from getting a time stone – but she still added, “don’t let anything happen to him out there.”

Agent Ross must have known what a ridiculous request it was, but he still nodded at her like it was any other order. “I’ll do my best, Miss Potts.”

**

When Tony and Nebula reached Wakanda, the rebuilding efforts were already well underway. When they were shown to Shuri’s lab, they also found a team, of sorts, bedraggled and sleep deprived though they may have been. It still felt good to see them.

Nebula immediately went to Rocket’s side, and they disappeared to an edge of the room. Tony could imagine what they were talking about, and he couldn’t listen to it now. He’d heard the story of the Guardians on the ship back from Titan. It didn’t make him forgive Starlord, but he understood him better now, at least.

When Tony walked in a little after Nebula, he made it about two steps before his arms were suddenly full of Bruce. It took all Tony had not to cling to him just as hard as he had to Pepper.

Then Rhodey appeared and wrapped his arms around him from the other side. Natasha came over and brushed a hand over his hair. Thor’s arms were long enough he seemed to hold all four of them in his hug.

Steve hovered at the edges, like he wasn’t sure he was welcome, but that hurt was buried so much deeper in Tony’s chest in light of all the recent horrors. He gestured Steve forwards.

“God, you all look awful,” Tony said when he felt his throat relax a little. “I missed you too.”

Natasha punched his bicep. “Don’t let us forget why we were so desperate to see you Stark,” she said, which was her way of telling him he’d been missed. Tony smiled at her, a genuine one this time.

“Tony, this is Shuri, she’s T’Challa’s sister,” Steve said, once everyone released him. Tony stuck close by Rhodey’s side.

“She’s a genius,” Bruce said, which made Tony pay attention. He loved teenage geniuses, they were so much- ah. No. That thought hurt. Abort.

“Nice to meet you Shuri,” he said, and held out a hand. She shook it, gave him a once over, and went back to her work.

“Over there is Rocket,” Steve said, pointing.

“I think I can tell which one is the stranger, Rogers,” Tony quipped, raising a hand towards the Raccoon. He didn’t respond, but Nebula was still speaking in a quiet mumble, so Tony wasn’t surprised.

The room looked pretty industrial, all things considered. Shuri was making notes on a tablet with Bruce at her side, and Thor had retreated to an area of the room which still needed clearing of debris, and he hauled another shattered wall segment out of the way with ease.

“What did I miss?” Tony asked Rhodey, then quickly clarified, “recently. Just recently.”

“Not much. We’ve been brainstorming plans but we hit a dead end. Shuri and Bruce are working on trying to understand the scientific makeup of the infinity stones, but we only have the mind stone to go on. Shuri saved a sort of schematic of that earlier on…”

“I see. Find anything?”

“Not really. We’re working on a hypothesis that maybe, at the end, Thanos took their souls and-”

“I get it,” Tony waved his hand, like he could wave Rhodey’s words away. He didn’t want to think about that, about anybody’s souls, and where they had been snatched from. “Cap – what’s our play?”

Steve looked at a loss for a second or two, and then he sighed. “We regroup, we study, we prepare. We have no way to get to Thanos, so right now we concentrate on becoming the best team we can be so that when he comes back, we’re not sitting ducks.”

“Aye aye. Shuri, take me through your progress.”

Steve caught Rhodey’s eye behind Tony’s retreating back, and both of them had mirrored expressions of confusion, and relief.

**

Agent Ross sent Pepper a message to tell her they had landed safely in Wakanda. She responded with an emoji thumbs up and an attached wedding invitation, which had the date written in as ‘to be confirmed’.

**

Carol Danvers landed in Wakanda with no announcement, and no issue with the forcefield. It caused a slight uproar. To her credit, she was very apologetic about her entrance, and explained that the radio device she had for contacting earth hadn’t been updated since she’d last been here, in the nineties. Shuri was so horrified she forgot to be annoyed.

Carol also came with information for them about the soul stone, and it seemed that Bruce had got his wish for friendly aliens to drop from the sky.

The team was assembled in one of the restored meeting rooms in the palace, listening to Carol’s explanation as to how she’d heard of their situation, and her strange relationship with Nick Fury.

“You don’t look like you’ve aged any, since the nineties,” Rhodey pointed out, and Carol raised her eyebrows.

“That’s the Kree genes. Although your Captain is pretty human, and I know for a fact he was around for the second world war.”

Steve rubbed a hand over the back of his head and repeated, for the tenth time, “Please, call me Steve.”

“Can you repeat for us what the stone guardian’s words were, exactly?” Shuri asked, getting their meeting back on track. Tony patted her shoulder gratefully.

“Of course. He said, ‘in order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul.’”

“And he was confident that Thanos hadn’t fully succeeded in that?” Thor asked. He was absentmindedly patting Rocket on the back. From what anyone could tell, it seemed to be the only thing keeping the raccoon in one place.

“Yes, definitely.”

“But he did wield the stone,” Natasha said. “It worked perfectly.”

“Or it just seemed to,” Carol suggested.

“Well it worked well enough for us to be in this position,” Bruce said, gesturing at their depleted ranks. It was a lot to hope for, that Thanos might not be as fully in control of the stones as he hoped, considering their situation. It was also the only hope they had.

“How do we get better control of it?” Steve asked. “We gotta get it off him, I suppose.”

Carol nodded, and then bit at her bottom lip thoughtfully before slowly shaking her head. “Actually… I’m not so sure.”

“Explain.”

“The stone appears when you make the correct sacrifice, right? It knows where to go. I don’t think you’d have to actually confront Thanos to get the stone, you’d just have to…” She trailed off.

“We have to make a better sacrifice than he did.” It was Steve who spoke the words, but the realisation hit them all at the same time. “We make a better sacrifice, the soul stone comes to us, we can get everyone back?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure of it.”

Steve turned to the team. “When we get everyone, that’ll mean we get Strange back too. Tony, you said he left you with some cryptic message about this scenario being the only way – I’ll bet he had a plan of his own. He’s gotta be our priority. We won’t have much time, once Thanos realises what we’ve done.”

“I’m sorry – we’re skipping right over the sacrifice issue, then?” Rhodey interrupted, folding his arms over his chest. The room fell silent.

“Cap’s right,” Tony sighed, “We’ve got to get our plan solid now, we can argue the toss for that honour afterwards.”

“I would happily volunteer,” Thor said, lifting his chin as everyone turned to stare at him. “Midgard, my team, you are all I have left, and I would give my life thankfully to preserve both.”

Rocket lifted his head and snarled, tugging hard on Thor’s arm and shaking his own head.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Tony agreed, holding out his hands when Thor turned a glare in his direction. “No offence Pointbreak, but once we’ve got the stone, we need someone who can wield it. That isn’t any of us.”

“No, I-” Thor fumbled for a response, and then hung his head. “You may be right, my friend.”

Tony nodded. “That settles it.”

“Excuse me?” Steve raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? We haven’t settled anything.”

“I think it’s quite obvious who the sacrifice is going to have to be, Steve.”

“What, you think it’s you?”

“Obviously.”

“There’s nothing obvious about it,” Steve argued. He hated this self-loathing part of Tony with all of his being, and every time he thought the other man had made progress, they ended up back here again.

“It can’t be the child,” Tony began, pointing at Shuri, “or any of the aliens. Nebula, you’re almost a stranger to most of the team, same with you Carol. Rocket, Quill would never forgive us. I’m drawing a line through Rhodey, no exceptions, and I’m not sure Hulk would be willing to play ball if Bruce volunteered. I’m assuming you’re also using your veto for Natasha, which leaves us with me.” Tony spread his hands out in front of his chest, like a showman revealing the end to a magic trick.

“No. It leaves me, as well,” Steve argued.

“Oh come on Steve, you’re Captain America.”

“And you’re Iron Man! Tony, I need you to not be so… pig-headed about this!”

There was silence for a few moments while they stared one another down, and then Carol coughed at the head of the table. They all turned back to her.

“I’m sorry that it has to be this way,” she said, “and I can’t give you the answer. You only get one shot, and you’re up against a sacrifice of a daughter. You need to make the right choice.”

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but Carol held up one finger and he fell silent. “You have to choose the most loved member of your team.”

**

They argued for two days. Nobody seemed to know what to do, or what to say. There was a tension between all of the team members, but it was strongest between Tony and Steve. It didn’t feel the same as their old kinds of arguments though – this time, they both knew what they were fighting for. It really was a losing battle, either way.

Tony worked tirelessly with Shuri all the hours of the day he wasn’t on the phone with Pepper, or tinkering with Rhodey’s suit to get it up and running again. Steve spent a fair amount of his time hanging out with Thor, both of them leaning on the other as a distraction from the losses neither could talk about.

Each time Tony or Steve brushed up against the other they would pause, and try and restate their case.

“You’re a figurehead for the whole team, America loves you.”

“All the more reason to be the loss.”

Or

“You’re engaged, you have a life to go back to. I stand to lose nothing.”

“Your friends would come back and find you gone. They need you, too.”

Tony knew their conversations were upsetting the rest of the team, but they had long since passed the point of alternate options. Deep down, he supposed that they all knew that there was no other way. They had all become Avengers to help, and being a hero meant that you went into each mission not knowing if you were going to survive until the next one. The only difference this time was that there was a certainty.

At the end of the second day, Steve clasped a hand on Tony’s shoulder and asked to borrow him for a minute.

The two of them were gone for two hours. When they returned, Tony wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye and Steve’s posture was ramrod straight.

“It’s going to be me,” he said. It felt like everyone simultaneously drew a breath, and released one. “Now we talk strategy.”

**

_You must lose that which you love._

They collected in formation in the middle of the Wakandan battleground. The team spread out, suited up, at the rear. Thor out in front, facing them. Steve stood alone in the centre. He had his suit on – not the blue stars and stripes, the new one. The one that wasn’t serving one country, but all of them.

He loved his team.

He loved his planet, his people.

Steve had been willing to die for what was right when he was only twenty and faking his name at every recruitment centre he could find. He hadn’t changed his mind. Or his stubborn nature.

God, Bucky used to lose his mind at how stubborn he was, used to say that Steve was gonna turn him grey well before his time.

Steve wanted to give him that time.

He hoped Bucky would forgive him, once all was said and done. Steve knew what it was like to be the only one out of your time, but Bucky had friends here now. He would be okay. He might even learn to get along with Sam. They’d have fun together.

“Steve, I believe we are all in position,” Thor said, solemn. His axe lay by his feet, ready for when Thanos showed up. Steve had faith in his team.

“Alright.” Steve shuffled his feet, standing comfortably. “I’m ready.”

Dark, grey clouds began to roll in from the horizon as Thor collected himself. The temperature dropped, but Steve didn’t notice. He was still warm from all of the hugs he’d been given as they left the palace. Shuri had gripped him tightly and crossed her arms over her chest before heading to her post inside.

The others had gripped him at the battlefield.

Natasha didn’t cry, but the others did. Steve was passed between them all like a parcel, smiling as much as he could. Bruce’s eyes were brown when he began the hug, and green when he let him go. Steve patted his head. “I’ll miss you too, Hulk.”

Tony was the last in line.

“O Captain, my Captain,” Tony quipped when Steve reached him, his smile was strained.

“Whitman? That’s old Tony, even for me.”

“Yeah, well. Gotta give you an easy shot this time,” Tony said, and pulled him forwards. The armour was hard and unforgiving, but Steve hugged him back.

Then he’d stepped forwards, into position in front of Thor, and cast his mind back to his friends.

_You must lose that which you love._

In a way, Steve realised this was a double sacrifice. They would lose him, but he was losing them as well. It would be worth it. To lay on the line and let half of a universe walk over him, he was happy to do that.

In line, Tony saw the sparks jumping on Thor’s hands. Steve looked relaxed. Everyone else was tense, barely blinking.

He thought of the first time he’d fought with this team. How, despite his apparent inability to be a team player, they had fallen together perfectly. He loved this team. He knew by now that they loved him back, because none of them had tried to convince him to step in for Steve. Not even Natasha.

Some of the team probably loved him more than they did Steve, Tony thought. Like Bruce, and Rhodey. They’d splintered the team into two strands, but their friends had somehow come together into this whole regardless. 

Just to send Steve away on his own.

“Wait!” Tony shouted. Thor looked up. Tony jetted over.

He thought of those words; you must lose that which you love.  

And he thought of Pepper.

And he thought of the fact they’d never actually set a date for the wedding, it was like they’d known. Or Pepper had known. Smart, beautiful Pepper. His heart clenched up tight behind the plating of his armour. He loved her so much it hurt.

And he thought of Thanos, with his great fist clenched around the world. Squeezing the joy from life. Squeezing lives out as easily as he had. Thought of all the families who had been torn apart. The children, the innocents.

And he thought of his kid, fading in his arms. The tremor in his voice. The way he’d gripped Tony’s shoulders like he was the only one left who could help. His kid, apologising for the way Tony hadn’t been able to save him.

Tony skidded to a stop beside Steve, and triggered the switch to fold the armour away.

“Tony, what are you doing?” Steve turned to him, the slightest moisture was collected on his eyelashes. Tony could feel the same when he blinked. He felt the weight of his certainty settle against his chest.

He offered Steve his hand. “For life, freedom, and all that’s right?”

Steve looked over his face and smiled. “For those we love,” he nodded, and he took Tony’s hand.

In front of them, Thor was openly weeping. The sky above them was heavy and grey, and as sparks began to jump from one hand to another, lightning lit up the clouds. “I shall dine with you soon in Valhalla, my friends,” he said.

Steve gripped Tony’s fingers harder.

He didn’t give his last thoughts over to loss, but instead concentrated hard on love. The word beat around his mind like a refrain. Tony’s hand was warm in his. There was another surge of it – that love.

The light from Thor’s hands ripped forwards, and they fell together.

In the last instant, at the very end, Tony saw just the faintest edge of amber light, and he smiled.

**

Tony and Steve crumpled to the ground. The stone appeared, and Thor snatched it up.

His grief ripped through him, raw and painful, a tear that never got the chance to heal.

The stone burned in his hand, but Thor didn’t waver. He held it up to the light, sparks flickering over and around it, obscuring him from the view of his teammates.

He willed it to open.

 _The soul holds a special place among the infinity stones, you might say it has a certain… wisdom_.

Thor’s pain ripped open the clouds above them and fat, heavy raindrops began to fall. Behind him, the team wiped their eyes and gasped.

The stone hummed in Thor’s hand.

Over the grassland, figures began to shimmer into existence, stepping out as if from behind a veil.

**Author's Note:**

> (sorry)


End file.
